Which country grows the most tea? The answer is India. It grows three times as much as China. Which country drinks the most tea? It’s neither China nor Japan. It’s Great Britain.

In the wild, tea plants may be 30 feet tall. But a plant grown for market is pruned. Pruning keeps the plant only three or four feet tall. This is an easy height for tea picking. Only the two top leaves and bud of each new shoot are picked. So to make money, tea plantations must be huge.

In general, there are two kinds of tea. Black tea and green tea. Black tea is fermented. In the process, the tea loses nearly all of its healthy qualities. Green tea is steamed right after the leaves are picked. Green tea retains its healthy qualities. For example, it may prevent heart disease.

How did we get tea bag? The answer: by accident. Tea merchants used to send samples in tin boxes. This was costly. One merchant thought of a cheaper way. He sent samples in small silk bags. Customers would cut open the bag. They would brew the leaves as usual. One customer put the bag into a pot. Then he just poured hot water over it. And the tea bag was born.

Shen Nong was the first to drink tea. (Shen was a Chinese emperor.) This was about 2737 B.C. Shen had bad digestion. So he drank several cups of hot water daily. One day something happened. Leaves from a wild tea tree fell into the hot water pot. The next cup was poured. The water was now colored. Shen sipped it. He liked it. He drank it all. Shen was proud of his new drink. He served it to his guests. Word spread. People thought this way. Tea is good enough for the Emperor. So it must be good enough for the people. Tea became the drink of China.

1.The best title for this passage should be ________________.

A. Black Tea B. Tea Plant

C. About Tea D. Tea Bag

2.One difference between green tea and black tea is that green tea __________.

A. must be pruned B. has a better taste

C. is fermented D. is healthier

3.What does the underlined word “retains” mean?

A. Keeps. B. Makes.

C. Produces. D. Loses.

4.We can know from this passage that __________.

A. tea bag was invented by a merchant

B. tea is better than any other drink

C. tea is popular in many countries

D. tea only grows in warm climates

We may know that there are four basic periods(时期) for human beings to pass through when you enter and live in another country. This process helps you deal with culture shock（冲击）.
Culture shock begins with the "honeymoon period". This is the time when you first arrive in a place where everything about the new cu1ture is strange and exciting. You see new things, hear new sounds and language, eat new kinds of food. This period can last for quite a long time because you feel very happy.
Unluckily, the second period can be more difficu1t.  After you have got used to your new life, you can become very tired and begin to miss your motherland, your family, your friends, your pets and so on. Al1 the little prob1ems in life seem to be much bigger and more worrying when you face them in a foreign country. This period can be very difficult and lead to moving backwards quickly.
The third period is called the "adjustment period". This is when you begin to realize that things are not so bad in the new country. Your sense of humor usually becomes stronger and you realize you are becoming stronger by 1earning to take care of yourself in the new place. Things are still difficult, but you are now a survivor.
The fourth period can be cal1ed "at ease at last". Now you feel quite comfortable in your new place. You can deal with most problems that you have. You may still have prob1ems with language, but you know you are strong enough to deal with them. At this time, you may feel a little uncomfortable if you go back to your motherland.
【小题1】According to the passage, culture shock usually happens when you ______.

    We may know that there are four basic periods for human beings to pass through when you enter and live in another country. This process(变化过程) helps you deal with culture shock(文化冲击).

    Culture shock begins with the "honeymoon period". This is the time when you first arrive in a place where everything about the new cu1ture is strange and exciting. You see new things, hear new sounds and language, eat new kinds of food. This period can last for quite a long time because you feel very happy.

    Unluckily, the second period can be more difficu1t.  After you have got used to your new life, you can become very tired and begin to miss your motherland, your family, your friends, your pets and so on. Al1 the little prob1ems in life seem to be much bigger and more worrying when you face them in a foreign country. This period can be very difficult and lead to moving backwards quickly.

    The third period is called the "adjustment(调整) period". This is When you begin to realize that things are not so bad in the new country. Your sense of humor usually becomes stronger and you realize you are becoming stronger by 1earning to take care of yourself in the new place. Things are still difficult, but you are now a survivor(善于求生者).

     The fourth period can be cal1ed "at ease at last". Now you feel quite comfortable in your new place. You can deal with most problems that you have. You may still have prob1ems with language,but you know you are strong enough to deal with them. At this time, you may feel a little uncomfortable if you go back to your motherland.

1.According to the passage, culture shock usually happens when you

A. get married to a foreigner             B. live in a big city

C. go to live in a foreign country         D. meet foreigners in your motherland

2.During the first period of the process, you feel

A. sad and lonely                     B. happy and excited

C. angry but strong                   D. easy but uncomfortable

3.You will find that you are a survivor in

A. the lst period     B. the 2nd period

C. the 3rd period    D. the 4th period

4.The fourth period can be regarded as a period of being

A. relaxing         B. worrying        C. tiring           D. adjustable

5.We can conclude(lgth$it) from the passage that

A. Living in another country is fun

B. it's boring to live in another country

C. knowing about culture shock is hard

D. it's not easy to dea1 with culture shock

Bringing a giraffe into the world is a tall order. A baby giraffe is born 10 feet high and usually lands on its back. Within seconds it rolls over its legs under its body. Then the mother giraffe rudely introduces its children to the reality of life.

In his book, A View from the Zoo, Gary Richmond describes how a new-born giraffe learns its first lesson.

The mother giraffe lowers her head long enough to take a quick look. Then she puts herself directly over her child. She waits for about a minute, and then she does the most unreasonable thing. She throws her long leg and kicks her baby, so that it’s sent sprawling(四脚朝天).

When it doesn’t get up, the process is repeated again and again. The struggle to rise is important. As the baby giraffe grows tired, the mother kicks it again. Finally, it stands for the first time on its shaky legs. Then the mother giraffe kicks it off its feet again. Why? She wants it to remember how it got up. In the wild, a baby giraffe must be able to get up as quickly as possible to stay with its group, where there’s safety.

Another writer named Irving Stone understood this. He spent a lifetime studying greatness, writing stories about such men as Michelangelo, Vincent van Gogh, Sigmund Freud, and Charles Darwin.

Stone was once asked if he had found something that runs through the lives of all these great people. He said, “I write about people who sometime in their life have a dream of something. They’re beaten over the head, knocked down and for years they get nowhere. But every time they stand up again. And at the end of their lives they’ve realized some small parts of what they set out to do .”

1.What does the underlined part “a tall order” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．A happy thing.                          B．A difficult task.

C．A big dream.                           D．A beautiful scene.

2.Which of the following statements is True according to the passage?

A．This passage is a description of giraffes’ living habits.

B．Baby giraffes can’t stand up until three months old.

C．Irving Stone spent a lifetime studying and writing stories about great people.

D．The great people can’t stand up after they’re knocked down for years.

3.What would be the best title for the passage?

A．How to keep a baby giraffe.

B．Learning to Get Back Up.

C．Stories about the great people.

D．A mother giraffe and its baby giraffe.

APRIL 5 marks the 100^th anniversary(周年纪念日)of the sinking(下沉)of the Titanic. In 1997, the movie Titanic was a huge hit all around the world. Now, the 3-D version of the movie will come to Chinese theaters on April 10.

As anyone who has seen the movie knows, the Titanic struck an iceberg(冰山) and sank on its first voyage in 1912, killing 1,517 people. A century after the accident, scientists have found something new to blame(负责任) for the sinking: the moon. Donald Olson, a Texas State University physicist, led a team of astronomers(天文学家) to examine the moon’s role, according to Reuters.

Normally, icebergs stay in place and cannot move until they melt enough or a high tide(潮汐) frees them. A single iceberg can become stuck many times on its journey southward. The process can take several years.

According to Olson, a hundred years ago the moon made its closest approach to the Earth in more than 1,400 years. This caused the moon to have a much stronger pull on the Earth’s oceans than usual, which created a super-high tide. The tide pushed icebergs from shallow waters off the coasts of Canada’s provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador, into the Titanic’s way.

“Of course, the final cause of the accident was that the ship struck an iceberg,” Olson told Reuters. “It went full speed into a region with icebergs, but the lunar connection(月亮的联系) may explain how an unusually large number of icebergs got into the path of the Titanic.”

The research team will publish their research in the April issue of Sky & Telescope magazine.

根据短文内容，选最佳择答案,并在答题卡上按要求作答。

1. How many people lost their lives in this accident?

A . Over 2,000 people.            B. About 100 people.  

C. More than 1,500 people.        D. We don’t know.

2. The underlined word “voyage” in the second paragraph really means ______.

A. 航行         B. 飞行       C. 划船      D.游泳

3. Which of the following about icebergs is TRUE?

A. Icebergs move only when the tide frees them.

B. An iceberg can stop for some time during its travel.

C. An iceberg will move as soon as its melts.

D. It takes an iceberg several months to leave its place.

4. Which of the following played a role in the sinking of the Titanic?

      a. the moon                 b. the tides             c. too many passengers 

d. the high speed of the ship    e. going the wrong way   f. the iceberg 

      A. a,b,c,f    B. a,c,d,e    C. a,b,d,f     D.a,c,e,f

5.. What is the article mainly about?

A. The main cause of the Titanic’s sinking.

B. The 100^th anniversary of the Titanic.

C. The moon’s great influence on the Earth’s tides.

D. The moon’s role in the sinking of the Titanic.